Mastering Communication and Linguistic Principles

The Fundamentals of Human Communication

Communication is the process by which the sender transmits a message to a receptor. There are two types: oral communication and written communication. Humans communicate continuously. For this, we utilize signs making up codes. The code which provides the main communication for people is language.

Phonetics: Syllables, Diphthongs, and Accents

The syllable is a set of sounds which are pronounced with a single blow of voice.

• Diphthong: A set of two vowels that are pronounced united.
• Triphthong: The set of three vowels that are pronounced together.
• Hiatus: The joining of two contiguous vowels.

The distinguishing feature of the stressed syllable is the accent.

Classification of Text Types and Word Structures

Text types are: informative, persuasive, prescriptive, and literary. Words containing two or more roots are compound words, and those with only one root are simple words.

Narrative Techniques and Semantic Relationships

If the narrator is internal, the narrative is expressed in the first person. Narrative is the story of facts, real or imaginary, starring characters. Words that only have one meaning are monosemic; those with more than one meaning are polysemic. Words with opposite meanings are antonyms, and synonyms share a similar or shared meaning.

The semantic field is the set of words in the same lexical category. The lexical field consists of every word that refers to the same subject.

Literary Genres: From Stories to Biographies

• A story is a short story told with simple action.
• The novel is a story more vast and complex than a tale.
• The diary is the story of everyday experiences and reflections of the author.
• The chronicle is the narrative of historical events in chronological order.
• The biography is the account of the life of a relevant person; it is an autobiography when the character narrates their own life.

Syntax: Statements, Subjects, and Predicates

We call a statement the smallest set of words that expresses an idea with full meaning. Classes of statements include sentences and phrases. Within the statement, words are grouped to form smaller sets called homogeneous groups or phrases.

When the nucleus is a noun, it is a nominal syntagma; if it is a verb, it is a verbal syntagma. The subject names the person, animal, or thing who says something in the sentence. We call the predicate (or verbal syntagma) the expression of what is said about the subject in the sentence.